Series: Elijah: The Desert Prophet « UnashamedSermons.com

Putting it All on the Line

Sunday, July 28th, 2002

This entry is part 1 of 6 in the series Elijah: The Desert Prophet

Read at beginning of service:

Matthew 16:21-28 (NIV)

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. 22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” 23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. 28 I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

INTRODUCTION

For the next few weeks we?re going to be studying the life of a man in the Bible whose single-minded commitment to God will hopefully shock and challenge us. This man was the most famous and dramatic of Israel?s prophets and no one of the Old Testament prophets is so frequently referred to in the New Testament. Elijah was sent to confront, not comfort, and he spoke God?s words to a king who often rejected his message just because he brought it.

Now some of you may be familiar with the story of Elijah and the many spectacular miracles God worked through his life however, I believe that you will be challenged as I was in this study of his life by the deeper miracle of Elijah?s relationship with God ? a miracle that is available to every single one of us.

If you were to think about it I?m sure that you might agree with me that there is a lot of things in this world that distract us from God and seemingly not enough attracting us to Him. I know we often will talk about all the worldly distractions we face as believers, but let me tell you about the greatest distraction I ever faced. This distraction kept me from truly knowing God and loving God in the first 13 years of my life. This distraction was church! The church I grew up did give me lots of knowledge about God ? but there was never really any emphasis on knowing Him. I didn?t read my Bible apart from church, I didn?t really know how to pray, much less pray effectively. I grew up believing that as long as I showed up at church on Sunday morning or at least Sunday School I was fulfilling my duty to God.

It wasn?t until in my later teen years that I was introduced to a church that demonstrated idea of actually having a relationship with God. It was there that I began to fall in love with Him. At this church the focus was on a personal relationship with Christ, not religion or duty to God. When I learned of God?s great love for me and began to understand the great lengths He went through to have a relationship with me it radically changed my life.

I hope you understand, our goal as a fellowship of believers is not to just sing the songs and preach the sermon and go home unchanged and unchallenged. No, the goal is to come together and worship God and have our spiritual perspective radically changed so we can face the world with the challenge of experiencing the life of Christ and sharing the gospel with those around us.

Everybody worships something. God has placed a seed of faith in everyone, everywhere in the world. Many people around us today are worshipping false gods. Here?s an interesting thought ? when the atheist (someone who believes there is no god) is thankful for something he has whom does he thank? He has no one to thank, but maybe himself and he becomes his own god.

Elijah entered into the scene of history rather suddenly in 1 Kings 17:1 during the reign of King Ahab, the seventh king of Israel after the split of the twelve tribes of Israel into two nations, Israel and Judah. Ahab was the most wicked king to ever rule Israel. From the time of David to Ahab the family in Israel had gone downhill fast. David?s son Solomon took many foreign wives that worshipped false gods and this had an impact on the kings of Israel that followed. So Ahab thought it was just a good political move to marry Jezebel who was a Baal worshipper. Then when she came to Israel and married the king guess what she brought with her? The worship of this false god quickly wormed its way into the daily life of Ahab and Israel under the evil influence of Jezebel.

Now it?s also important to mention at this point that Baal was considered to be the god of rain and it?s into this woeful state of the nation and its king that God sends the prophet Elijah. When Elijah first appeared on the scene this is how he is introduced in 1 Kings 17:1,

1 Kings 17:1 (NIV)

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

There are a few observations I?d like to note about this introduction to Elijah:

HIS PROFESSION: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives?”

A prophet from the backwater community of Tishbe in Gilead would have no clout in the capital of Israel, Samaria, and definitely would have no influence on the king and queen.

It would be like me going to the Prime Minister?s residence in Ottawa to visit Jean Chretian. I would make it only as far as the front gate. Could you imagine me telling the security person, “I?m Darren Ethier pastor of Hanover Pentecostal Church and I?ve come here with a message from God to the Prime Minister!” There?s no way I would get in, because I have no clout on Sussex Drive. So how did Elijah, a small town prophet, get an audience with the king of Israel?

Elijah?s name means, “My God is Lord.” Elijah was sent from God. He was called and ordained of God, that?s how he made it to the king?s presence. When we follow God?s will for our life he will do extraordinary things with our life to prove Himself.

Elijah was a man of God, with a message from God, who was on a mission with God, who went in the might of God.

When the infidel, Robert G. Ingersoll, was delivering his lectures against Christ and the Bible, his oratorical ability usually assured him of a large crowd. One night after an inflammatory speech in which he severely attacked man?s faith in the Savior, he dramatically took out his watch and said, “I?ll give God a chance to prove that He exists and is almighty. I challenge Him to strike me dead within 5 minutes!” First there was silence, then people became uneasy. Some left the hall, unable to take the nervous strain of the occasion, and one woman fainted. At the end of the allotted time, the atheist exclaimed derisively, “See! There is no God. I am still very much alive!” After the lecture a young fellow said to a Christian lady, “Well, Ingersoll certainly proved something tonight!” Her reply was memorable. “Yes he did,” she said. “He proved God isn?t taking orders from atheists tonight!”

Elijah introduced himself in the King?s presence with a statement of faith as he began saying, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives?” Truly, if God is alive, then Ahab is in trouble.

Elijah right away declared in this profession where he was staking his faith, where he was making his claim. And he was prepared to put everything on the line for that belief. Friends, the world needs to see change in the lives of those who profess to have faith in Christ. This kind of faith results in a lasting character change in our life, attitude and direction. Which brings me to the next observation:

HIS POSITION: “?Whom I serve,?”

Elijah had a burden. He was a servant and in order to be a servant he must have a burden. In order to be a servant we must have a burden. If we have no burden for the things of God we will not serve God!

It?s like when a person loses a loved one to a disease or cancer and then they join or start a campaign to raise money and/or awareness for/about that disease or cancer. Because of their loss and pain they now have a burden to help others and try and prevent others from going through what they or their loved one endured.

It?s too easy for us as Christians to forget what God has done for us and not consider what those around us without Christ are going through and are going to go through everlasting. We lose focus and perspective on eternal things and we don?t have a burden ? without a burden you?ll have a weak position spiritually.

In his book, Fuzzy Memories, Jack Handey writes:

There used to be this bully who would demand my lunch money every day. Since I was smaller, I would give it to him. Then I decided to fight back. I started taking karate lessons. But then the karate lesson guy said I had to start paying him five dollars a lesson. So I just went back to paying the bully.

Too many people feel it is easier just to pay the bully than it is to learn how to defeat him. In the time of Elijah, too many people refused to stand up against Queen Jezebel and King Ahab and the ungodliness rampant in the land.

But not Elijah! Elijah didn?t go to Samaria and stand up against Ahab and Jezebel because he was bored, “Oh, I think I?ll go down and deeply offend the king and queen today and try to live to see tomorrow. Yeah, that will be exciting ? I won?t be bored after that!” Elijah left his home, his community, and his comfortable life because he had a burden for God. He had watched his country turn to false gods to the point that it turned his stomach. Then he heard the call of God to go and do something about it.

The Best ABILITY is AVAILABILITY!

There are always those people who say they?re going to live a silent Christian witness. Now I believe we do need to live out our faith with everything we do. But a person can carry that to an extreme and not back up their life with verbal testimony as to why they live the way they do! To be a true witness to the world you need both credibility and accountability. An effective witness in a court of law is going to speak what they have seen and heard. Jesus wasn?t crucified off in a corner somewhere where no one could see! He was crucified out in public for everyone to see and know what He had done for humans. He spoke the truth not only to His disciples in private, but also to the masses in public.

As we heard read this morning,

Matthew 16:24 (NIV)

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Taking up your cross is a public demonstration of your allegiance to Christ and of your position in Christ ? giving evidence to the fact of His lordship over your life.

Who do you serve?

HIS PRAYER ? “there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

James 5:17 (NIV)

17 Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.

Elijah was not only putting his life on the line as he went up against the gods of Jezebel but he was putting his faith on the line as well. Elijah didn?t have control of the weather, but he HAD surrendered control of his life over to the One who controlled the weather. Elijah?s willingness to confront King Ahab was a by-product of his prayer life.

And let?s think about his prayer for a moment. Elijah was praying for a national disaster! Could you imagine it not raining for three and a half years? I mean we?re experiencing the effects of having hardly any rain in this past while but that?s still nothing compared to having NO rain! Not only no rain, but no dew on the ground either! Elijah was praying that everyone would become as uncomfortable physically as he was spiritually.

Have you ever noticed how much we pray for our comforts? Home, health, and wealth tend to dominate our prayer life. When these things take center stage in our prayer life our focus starts to sway of of God and onto us. That?s what the enemy wants ? he wants you to focus squarely on self, for self to become your number one concern because when you do that you?re suddenly being mistreated by everyone, including God. Then the world becomes a miserable place and your life becomes a painful existence.

God wants us to place all our faith in Him. Yet how much do we put on the line for God? I want you to hear something this morning ? it?s not necessarily how much faith we have that is important, it is how much of our faith we?re placing in God. Do you see the difference? The difference is always exposed in the midst of trial, in the midst of a test of allegiance, in the midst of the temptation to compromise.

CONCLUSION AND APPLICATION

God used Elijah mightily I believe because Elijah was willing to put his whole life on the line for God. Elijah not only professed his faith in God but he also understood and lived out his position in God and demonstrated his reliance on God in prayer.

What kind of people does God use?

1. People who believe.

God will use people who believe they can be used by God and who believe He will use them. God uses people who have a faith received out of a belief in who God is and what He has accomplished through Jesus Christ.

2. People who surrender.

It?s one thing to believe but it?s another thing to surrender to what you believe. For instance I believe that when a 80 km/hr sign is posted that means that the maximum speed allowed for a vehicle traveling on that portion of road is 80 km/hr. I believe that and I?m sure you do too! But surrendering to that belief is actually obeying the posted speed limit no matter what the impulse is to do! I?ll leave that thought with you for a minute!!

Elijah believed that God was alive and Lord over Israel, Elijah believed that God had called Him to speak against the evil that was running rampant through Israel ? but Elijah still had a choice of whether to surrender or not ? Elijah was used mightily by God because he surrendered. He put everything on the line in surrender to God and His purposes!!

It?s too easy to make excuses for why we don?t serve God. The bottom line is you either serve Him or you don?t ? you either have a burden for God and the things of God or you don?t. The truth is when you make yourself available to God through your surrender and obedience then He will do things through you that are far beyond your abilities and what you would even imagine.

3. People who pray beyond their convenience.

It?s easy to pray for things that are convenient but how often do you pray for those things which may be inconvenient? Or, from a different perspective of the same point, how often do you pray when it is inconvenient for you to pray?

A study has been done which made the observation that less than 10% of all Christians are committed to the point that they actively serve their church and daily study their Bibles and pray. And this same study found out that those who were committed were also found to be the happiest.

I want to ask you this morning, how much are you willing to put on the line for God? Now how much are you putting on the line for God?

Tags: ahab, allegiance, baal, bully, Elijah: The Desert Prophet, israel
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Surprise! God planned it!

Sunday, August 4th, 2002

This entry is part 2 of 6 in the series Elijah: The Desert Prophet

Read at beginning of service:

Deuteronomy 8:1-5 (NIV)

1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

INTRODUCTION

1 Kings 17:2-6 (NIV)

2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook

Last week, in the introduction to Elijah, the desert prophet, we found this unknown man from Tishbe, Gilead, standing before the king of Israel and telling him that there would be no rain falling on Israel or dew in the next few years. If you read ahead a bit you?d learn that indeed there was no rain or dew for three and a half years!

Now we know that Elijah went before King Ahab in response to the calling of God on his life and in obedience to the message God wanted him to deliver before the King of Israel. Remember that Israel was a nation that had fallen away from God and was worshipping false gods and idols as the result of compromising to the influence of the wicked queen, Jezebel. Elijah was sickened spiritually by the depravity of the nation and he made Himself available to God for whatever God would choose to do through his life. So, Elijah walked up to the palace in Samaria, stood before the King and belted out these words recorded in verse 1.

Wouldn?t it have been easier if God simply killed Ahab and Jezebel and replaced them with a Godly king and queen? If I was advising Elijah on these matters that might be what I would have told him to pray for. I mean a drought is a painful thing, no rain for 3 ? years is bad! We?re talking about little children dying, disease running rampant, everyone would be affected in a terrible way. The drought wouldn?t just be Ahab and Jezebel?s problem ? it would?ve been everyone?s problem! “Now just hold on here a bit Elijah, surely that?s not what God told you to say? I mean, why should the good people suffer along with the evil?” Isn?t that a question that a lot of us ask when looking at the world? “Why does God let bad things happen to good people? Why doesn?t God take care of the evil that?s in the world?”

However, Elijah was faithful to what God directed Him to speak and pray for. What is remarkable is that what Elijah spoke would affect him too! Throughout history God has allowed evil to exist right along side good and worked out His purpose in spite of the existence of evil. In the midst of terrible circumstances God proves Himself most effectively to us here in the world. So even with Elijah ? God was preparing to prove Himself and ready him for a great work. But along the way there are a few surprises?

AN UNEXPECTED COMMAND “Leave here, turn eastward and hide” (v.3)

This makes me think of another occasion in the Bible where God told Abraham to take his only son to the mountain and sacrifice him…(relate story)?To say this was a surprise is a bit of an understatement!

In our text we see that Elijah goes in the boldness of the Lord and stands before the king with his proclamation of faith ? putting it all on the line for God ? and now God commands him to go hide!! Why?

Maybe for Elijah?s protection?Now, I realize that Elijah must be protected, I know that as the drought begins to get severe Ahab would begin to get irritated and would probably blame Elijah. In fact, if you read further in 1 Kings you find that Ahab sent his spies, his soldiers, his agents all over the known world looking for Elijah as the famine grew more and more severe. So yes, hiding Elijah would be good for his protection ? especially if God wanted to speak through Elijah again! But then again, God could surely protect Elijah without hiding him!! In fact, that would be a powerful way of displaying his power and might to the depraved nation ? but that was not the will of God for the moment?

Maybe so Elijah wouldn?t witness the devastation caused by the drought? and so be moved to intercede on behalf of the Israelites. Maybe God wanted to be sure that Elijah would follow through on the task set out for him.

One thing is for sure, however, that God desired to prepare Elijah for what was ahead and deepen His relationship with Elijah. For we find not only the surprising command of God to hide but also the place that God sent Elijah to hide in. A ravine is usually formed by the torrent of spring floods and this probably would have been the case with the Kerith Ravine. Kerith would most likely have referred to what scholars have said is a transient brook (or creek) that dries up during the summer. So the Kerith Ravine would have been this place that the water rushes through in the spring but dries up in the summer. Now wouldn?t that be a good place to go to with the knowledge of an oncoming drought?! Surely someplace along the wide, deep Jordan river would have been a better place? But therein lies another surprise in store for Elijah?

UNEXPECTED PROVISION “I have ordered the ravens to feed you” (v4)

Trials and tests of life are never announced ahead of time are they? Wouldn?t it be nice if God gave us a little forewarning before hard times hit? That way you could kind of brace yourself and get mentally prepared for it! I?m sure Elijah might have thought to himself, “You could have warned me that You would be sending me to hide before I went to King Ahab ? I would?ve sent supplies ahead to the Kerith Ravine and built a house?” But then God tells Elijah that he has made provision for him in the form of ravens bringing him food. Now I don?t know about you but I think that is an incredible test to depend on ravens for your food. Notice that at this point God didn?t tell Elijah what the ravens would be bringing him! How many of you have ever seen a raven picking away at road-kill while driving along the road? How many of you would like a raven as your chef? If I was in Elijah?s shoes at this point I would be saying, “Ok God, this is the thanks I get for obeying your command, ravens for chefs!!”

What is the point? The point is that God?s provision doesn?t always come in the form we would expect or like but nevertheless He still provides. Sometimes the provision God offers in the midst of testing or trial is in itself a test of dependence on Him!

Remember how God provided for the Israelites as they crossed the desert on their way to the promised land? Manna was the incredible miracle God performed morning after morning to lead the Israelites to that humbling place where they were dependent on Him. I?d like to highlight a couple of verses from the passage that was read this morning,

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 (NIV)

2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

And isn?t that the same thing God is teaching Elijah here? Elijah was being tested in his obedience to turn and go East to the Kerith Ravine ? but he was also being taught the principle of living by the word of God. For it was at God?s command, at His word, that the ravens were providing food for Elijah!

The Word of the Lord always accompanies the Will of the Lord.

God was very specific on how He would provide for Elijah. Elijah was not to pick berries or hunt for his food, God told Elijah, you just stay put for now and I?ll take care of you. God was teaching Elijah to be more dependent on Him in preparation for the things that would follow. This was something Elijah could never learn outside of the Kerith Ravine experience.

Friends, you will never find God?s will for your life by looking to the world for answers ? the only way you will know God?s will is through His Word! Where was God?s perfect will for Elijah in this passage? It wasn?t at his home, it wasn?t in some comfortable hotel room, it was in obscurity in the midst of the wilderness at side of a brook that normally dries up in the summer. Elijah didn?t have a TV or a short-wave radio to keep him up to date on the latest happening in Samaria. We need to realize that Elijah had no one to fellowship with except God, all alone ? and this is God?s perfect will for Elijah! For there Elijah learned that God?s word always accompanies His will ? His will always accompanies His Word. Elijah learned to live by the Word of God so that the Will of God would be accomplished in his life.

God will lead us to places we don?t necessarily want to go sometimes ? or we?ll find ourselves in places that God has brought us to that we?d rather not be but it?s in the midst of those places that we can learn to live by His word so that His will can be accomplished in our lives. And friends, when you see and know the will of God working out in your life you begin to realize that there is no better place to be no matter where you are!!!

In all this was the more subtle surprise of God?s?

UNEXPECTED PROCEDURE (v.5-6)

There are too very important phrases attributed to Elijah in verse five, “?he did what the Lord had told him?” and he, “?stayed there.” The text is very plain in stating not only Elijah?s obedience in going where God told him to go but also his perseverance in staying there. Friend?s it is one thing to be obedient to the Word of God, it is yet another thing to persevere when it seems that obedience is getting you nowhere or accomplishing nothing or has no reward!

Many people will find themselves right in the middle of God?s will for their lives, which is out of their comfort zone and they don?t stay there, or they?ll try everything in their power to get out! These places are called the pruning places in life. This is where God takes our life and cuts away the parts of us that drain away spiritual life and produce nothing (or dead life).

John 15:2 (NIV)

2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

God?s will for our life is that we be more fruitful. His procedure for doing this is taking the dead parts of us that are draining us of spiritual vitality and cutting them off so that the only thing left is productive spiritual life. But this is a painful place to be, where God prunes us, and many times we will leave this place too soon and don?t allow God to finish His work in our life. It?s so easy to go back to our places of comfort and our old way of living and turn away from God.

Deuteronomy 8:5 (NIV)

5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

As the Israelites went through the desert on their way to the promised land there were many uncomfortable places that they found themselves in but instead of persevering they began to grumble about there current situation and said they?d rather go back to Egypt where they had been in bondage and slavery! Friends when God leads you to your Kerith Ravine, don?t grumble and complain but persevere and submit to God?s procedure ? for the results will be greater than you or I could ever imagine.

CONCLUSION

Even though it occupies only a few sentences in the first part of chapter 17 Elijah?s experience at the Kerith Ravine lasted at least two and most likely three years of his life. Imagine, three years living in the wilderness ? being fed everyday bread and meat from the beaks of ravens and scavenging for water in an ever dwindling creek! In fact, verse seven tells us that the Kerith eventually dried up! I?ll leave the significance of that for when I speak next week but let me re-emphasize the lessons we learn from Elijah?s hiding place.

Our circumstances are in God?s hands:

Remember that as a believer we are not in control of our lives! Our life is in the hands of God. The problems occur when we take control and become directors of our own destiny because this conflicts with what God wants to do in and through our lives. Now friends, this does not mean that you sit back and wait for things to happen ? all I am saying is that there first of all be a recognition that Christ is our life and that He is in control of what happens; and then there be a surrender to that control with every action we take, with every attitude we have, with every thought we process. Usually its as simple as listening to the voice of the Spirit of God speaking through your conscience.

We can trust that He will provide in the midst of those circumstances:

As we persevere in tests and trials what we already are in Christ spiritually begins to explode into our day to day lives.

Tags: ahab, comfort, desert, deuteronomy, elijah, Elijah: The Desert Prophet, kerith
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When the Brook Dries Up – a Test of Dependence

Sunday, August 18th, 2002

This entry is part 3 of 6 in the series Elijah: The Desert Prophet

Read at beginning of service:

John 16:31-33 (NIV)

31 “You believe at last!” Jesus answered. 32 “But a time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me. 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

INTRODUCTION

For those of you who may not have been here for the last two messages I preached, I have been doing a series on Elijah, the Desert prophet.

In the first message I introduced you to this earth-shaking man as he was introduced in 1 Kings 17:1. There Elijah came rather suddenly onto the scene of world history, appearing before the king of Israel, Ahab, and his evil wife Jezebel. The Bible describes the scene for us and relates that Israel at this time had turned their backs on God and were committing great sins by worshipping false gods and idols. The Bible describes King Ahab by saying this in 16:30, “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him.” Into this depravity God calls Elijah, the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead. A nobody, a man who doesn?t even have his genealogy listed anywhere in the Bible! A man who was obedient in following the call of the Lord and putting it all on the line for the cause of the Kingdom of God. With his profession, his position, and his prayer ? Elijah boldly surrendered himself to the Lord?s purpose and will in his life. As God brought Elijah before the king he roared out with a rumbling voice (I always tend to imagine his voice as rumbling ? I?m sorry folks but I just don?t think Elijah would have been squeaking out his words!) “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” Elijah truly did put it all on the line ? his life, his livelihood, and his faith ? were simply placed on a tightrope because of his decision to trust God. Friends, God uses people like that ? people who surrender themselves completely (and I mean completely) to his will and work in their lives.

In the second message I preached on Elijah we discover the continuation of God?s direction for his life. In an unexpected twist Elijah is sent by God to hide in the Kerith Ravine where he will live for a while drinking from a stream that normally dries up in the summer and being fed by ravens. Truly, this would have been a surprise to Elijah ? but God was merely continuing to shape and mold him into the man he would become for the work that would be accomplished later on in his life. We learned here in Elijah?s story that our circumstances our in God?s hands, that we can trust God will provide in the midst of those circumstances, and that as we persevere in tests and trials what we already are in Christ spiritually begins to explode into our day to day lives!

So now, we return to the scene of Elijah at the Kerith Ravine where he has been living for a period of time in obedience to where God has led him and surviving by the miraculous provision of God in the wings of ravens delivering bread and meat and the water of a brook that should have dried up a long-time ago in the sweltering heat of the drought?

1 Kings 17:7-16 (NIV)

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread–only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it–and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

In our text today God has already taken Elijah and cut away much of his self-dependence, but now He?s going to melt away all Elijah?s pride and prepare him to deliver one of the greatest revivals of all time.

MESSAGE OBJECTIVE: BEFORE GOD CAN MOLD US HE MUST FIRST MELT US.

Before our potential can be fulfilled, our pride must be emptied
There is a place and a purpose for which God wants to use you but if you?re not melted you can?t be molded. And let me tell you something the melting and molding process (and it is a process) isn?t done until we stand with all the Saints before God in the day that Jesus Christ is revealed in all His glory and majesty!

the process in this account?

A NEW PATH v. 8-11

Don?t Get Too Comfortable!

When the Kerith ravine dried up on Elijah this must have been a terrible feeling for the man of God who was in the perfect will of God. One of the worst feelings in life is the feeling that we?ve been forgotten. It must have seemed to Elijah that God had forgotten him, there by the ravine for a lengthy period of time, depending on God for survival and protection and then one day the brook dries up. The water stops flowing and the creek bed starts cracking in the heat.

Friends, sometimes God allows our brooks to dry up in life because we get too comfortable and he wants to move us along in His will. Now I realize the Kerith ravine wasn?t Elijah?s home and food brought by ravens wasn?t exactly home cooking but for quite a while this was all Elijah knew. It?s like the alcoholic who tries to get help through Alcoholics Anonymous and finally starts making some headway only to come home and discover his wife has bought him a six-pack of beer. She doesn?t want him to get better because it will change the dynamics of their relationship, and even though her marriage isn?t the best it?s all she knows and she?s comfortable in the co-dependant relationship. It is possible to get too comfortable with where we are (no matter how bad or how good it is) and resist moving forward and onward with where God wants us to be. We must be willing to leave our comfort zone and depend fully on God so that He can mold us into the people He has created us to be.

Be Willing To Face Your Fears!

The fact that God sent Elijah to Zarephath is very significant. First because it was Jezebel?s hometown. Elijah was in hiding from Ahab and Jezebel for his life. To be sent to Jezebel?s back yard seems to be a dangerous path. It is a wicked place filled with wicked people. Yet, that is exactly where the Lord sends His prophet!

To top it off, to get to Zarephath from where he was will force Elijah to march over 100 miles through territory ruled over by king Ahab, who is looking for Elijah everywhere. I wonder what that 100 mile track must have been like for Elijah. I would assume he saw more funerals than weddings because of the great drought brought about “at his word”. I wonder if he saw them burying babies and families that had starved to death because of the lack of rain. It seems like this command of the Lord makes no sense at all! Of course, one of the reasons for sending Elijah to Zarephath was to vividly illustrate the impotence of Jezebel?s wrath and power!

Often, the life of faith will lead through difficult pathways. God never promised that this way would be an easy way. In fact, just the opposite is true! God has promised us that life will be filled with trials and troubles,

Job 14:1 (NIV)

1 “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.

Job 5:7 (NIV)

7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

John 16:33 (NIV)

33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Yet, that is the path of faith! Even when the command of God makes no sense, faith simply obeys God without regard for the consequences,

?

1 Kings 17:10a (NIV)

10 So he went to Zarephath?

You can see this truth displayed throughout the Bible.

? ?Noah and the ark – Gen. 6

? ?Abraham and Isaac – Gen. 22

? ?Daniel and the 3 Hebrews – Dan. 1

There are times when the commands of God seems harsh and strange. However, faith recognizes the voice of the Good Shepherd and follows obediently wherever He may lead!

ACCEPT THE UNEXPECTED v9 “I have commanded a widow in that place to supply you with food”

We would expect God to send Elijah to a widow and command Elijah to take care of her, but this is a pride swallowing command from God. Widows in this day didn?t depend on the government to supply them with money, and they had no nursing homes to go for help. All they had where their families and if a widow had no family she was just out of luck. This must have been a strange command for Elijah to accept. Yet, Elijah obeyed?

NOTHING TO LEAN ON BUT GOD V12

“As surely as the LORD your God lives,” she replied, “I don?t have any bread-only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it-and die.”

God?s will was not only to save Elijah physically through this drought, but to save this widow and her son physically and spiritually as well.

I believe to say that this widow was depressed would be an understatement. She was already dead, not physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. You may have heard the saying, “When you get to the end of your rope just tie a knot in it and hold on!” Well her rope had broke and she was free falling. One last meal and then they starve?no hope of help from anyone, anywhere.

If God where to tell me to go to New York and stay there, and that He has prepared a widow to feed me, and provide shelter, the first place I would go would be the Park Avenue or Boardwalk area and start looking for the widows driving the Mercedes and Lexus. I would expect God to send me to a rich widow with a large pantry full of food, and plenty of extra room. But God didn?t send Elijah to a widow with plenty – He sent him to a widow with nothing.

This goes directly against those who preach a prosperity gospel. How long can you go without going to the grocery store and keep from starving? Most of us could probably go for a long time. Because we live here in Canada we have usually have a surplus – we have pantries, and freezers to store our food. We have drive-thru restaurants, so the family can eat in the car on the way to little league practice like God intended. We consider storing up to be a blessing, but the only problem with storing up is we don?t learn to depend on God. We just simply depend on self and our surplus and hardly consider God to be our provider and guide in life. This is like when the nation of Israel was in their wilderness wandering and God provided them with manna for everyday. Just enough for that day they were not to keep any over for the next day or it would ruin. God was teaching them to depend on them for that day?s provision.

?

Ex 16:17-20

17The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.

19Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

20However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

God was teaching them eat at God?s command.

Ex 13:20-21

21By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

Through the cloud and fire God was also teaching them to move only at His command.

Elijah ate at God?s command and moved at God?s command.

We must ask ourselves a question. Do we only eat and move at God?s command? God wanted the nation of Israel to think of Him with everything they did physically and spiritually. Their journey through the wilderness was molding them into the nation of people He desired them to be. When they ate they were to think of Him and His provisions, where they lived, with their employment, their families, their health – with everything they were to consider God?s will. To eat and move at God?s command means that with everything we do we consider God?s will and we lean on nothing but Him.

BE WILLING TO TRUST GOD WITH THE UNHEARD OF. V.13-16

?

1 Kings 17:13-16

13Elijah said to her, “Don?t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.?” 15She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the LORD spoken by Elijah.

When Elijah hears the widow?s sob story, he makes what appears to be the coldest demand in the Bible. He tells her to go ahead and fix her last supper, but to feed him first! On the surface this appears harsh and cruel, but it was, in fact, a plea for faith and surrender to the will of God. I want you to notice something here. Elijah was able to state this with utter certainty and conviction because he had already witnessed the provision of God in his life. Now it was the widow?s turn to learn?

When this widow heard the word of God, she went and did as Elijah had commanded her. It must have took great faith to use the last little bit of meal she had to prepare bread for a total stranger. Yet she did.

Because this widow took God at His Word and prepared bread for Elijah, God allowed the widow, the widow?s son and Elijah to enjoy plenty while all around them hundreds starved to death. That is grace! The difference in the widow?s home was that she learned to live by faith and she was supplied by the hand of God. God honors faith because faith honors God!

For years, until it rained, every mealtime was a miracle. God worked a miracle in that barrel and in that jar every single day. He took nothing and made it last until it was no longer needed. Friends, we serve a God who specializes in doing the impossible! It may look hopeless to us, but we must never count God out! He can take the little that is dedicated to Him by faith and multiply it to enormous proportions!

Corrie Ten Boom tells of a time when in the German death camp Ravensbruk during WWII. She had smuggled her Bible and a small bottle of liquid vitamins into her barracks. Her sister Betsie was sick and growing sicker but she demanded that Corrie first give a dose of vitamins to all the other sick in their barracks before she would accept any. Corrie tells that a strange thing was happening. The Davitamon bottle was continuing to produce drops. It scarcely seemed possible, so small a bottle, so many doses a day. Now in addition to Betsie, a dozen others on our pier were taking it. My instinct was always to hoard it ? Betsie was growing so very weak! But the others where ill as well. It was hard to say no to eyes that burned with fever, hands that shook with chill. I tried to save it for the very weakest ? but even these soon numbered fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five?. And still, every time I tilted the little bottle, a drop appeared at the tip of the glass stopper. It just couldn?t be! I held it up to the light, trying to see how much was left, but the dark brown glass was too thick to see through. “There was a woman in the Bible,” Betsie said, “whose oil jar was never empty.” She turned tot it in the Book of Kings, the story of the poor widow of Zarephath who gave Elijah a room in her home: “The jar of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the works of Jehovah which he spoke by Elijah.” Well ? but ? wonderful things happen all through the Bible. It was one thing to believe that such things were possible thousands of years ago, another to have it happen now, to us, this very day. And yet it happened this day, and the next, and the next, until an awed little group of spectators stood around watching the drops fall onto the daily rations of bread. Many nights I lay awake in the shower of straw dust from the mattress above, trying to fathom the marvel of supply lavished upon us. “Maybe,” I whispered to Betsie, “only a molecule or two really gets through that little pinhole ? and then in the air it expands!” I herd her soft laughter in the dark. “Don?t try too hard to explain it, Corrie, Just accept it as a surprise from a Father who loves you.” (taken from The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom pg. 202-203)

“God?s work, done God?s way, will receive God?s supply.” Hudson Taylor

CONCLUSION:

If you have no hope this morning if your rope has broken and your free falling know this, that God is able in impossible times to turn your hopeless situation around and give you hope, to take your death and give you life, to take your faithlessness and give you faith if you will simply lend what you have to him.

God has promised enough grace to face today and the assurance to leave tomorrow in His hands; God wants us to look to him for strength to get through today, and not to worry about tomorrow. If you have plenty today, there is no guarantee you will have it tomorrow ? yet in God you can trust in His provision.

Take a step of faith today for God, put action to your faith, take your hands off and give your life to God and see what He can do with it.

Tags: co_dependant, Elijah: The Desert Prophet, widow
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Finding Life in the Midst of Tragedy

Sunday, August 25th, 2002

This entry is part 4 of 6 in the series Elijah: The Desert Prophet

Read at beginning of service:

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (NIV)

10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you–a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant–then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

INTRODUCTION

“Before I read the text for today I?d like to remind you of what we?ve uncovered so far in Elijah?s life” (Recap what has happened in the story with Elijah so far)
Emphasize what has happened with Elijah?s visit to the widow (v7-16)
- Elijah has gone to widow in Zarephath
- The widow has witnessed the miraculous provision of God in the response to her obeying the word of the Lord through Elijah ? She and her son have been rescued from the brink of death!
- The Jar of flour and the jug of oil was not used up!
- Elijah stayed with the woman and her family for the remaining period of the drought.
“Everything seems to be okay, food is plenty, things are good and then “bam!” tragedy hits! Let?s continue in our story with today?s text from 1 Kings 17:17-24″
But before I read the text there?s this little story I?d like to share with you?

ILLUSTRATION: A new kind of plane was on its first flight. It was full of reporters and journalists. A little while after takeoff, the captain?s voice was heard over the speakers. “Ladies and gentlemen, I?m delighted to be your pilot for this plane?s historic first flight. I can tell you the flight is going well. Nevertheless, I have to tell you about a minor inconvenience that has occurred . The passengers on the right side can, if they look out their window, see that the closest engine is slightly vibrating. That shouldn?t worry you, because this plane is equipped with four engines and we are flying along smoothly at an acceptable altitude. As long as you are looking out the right side, you might as well look at the other engine on that side. You will notice that it is glowing, or more precisely one should say, burning. That shouldn?t worry you either, since this plane is designed to fly with just two engines if necessary, and we are maintaining an acceptable altitude and speed. As long as we are looking out the plane, those of you on the left side shouldn’t worry if you look out your side of the plane and notice that one engine that is supposed to be there is missing. It fell off about ten minutes ago. Let me tell you that we are amazed that the plane is doing so well without it. However, I will call your attention to something a little more serious. Along the center aisle all the way down the plane a crack has appeared. Some of you are, I suppose, able to look through the crack and may even notice the waves of the Atlantic Ocean below. In fact, those of you with very good eyesight may be able to notice a small lifeboat that was thrown from the plane. Well, ladies and gentlemen, you will be happy to know that your captain is keeping an eye on the progress of the plane from that lifeboat below.
Sometimes we find ourselves in situations very similar to that plane flight. Everything around us seems to be falling apart and the person in charge seems to be as remote as the captain in the raft on the ocean far below.
Everyone faces tragedy and it usually catches us unawares. In today?s text, we?re going to learn the truth about tragedy, and crises in our life. You see, tragedy can either make you bitter or better – it can result in life or death ? it can kill us or it can grow us. The difference lies in what your perspective of the tragedy is, the difference lies in how you respond to the tragedy, ultimately the difference lies in what you choose as the outcome of the tragedy. Tragedy can turn you to mush, it can make you sour, it can make your world seem bleak, it can turn the things you like into things you hate, it can change your brightest days into the darkest nights, it can squash incredible potential into dismal failure, it can take a beautiful smile and turn it into a woeful frown, it can turn an angelic face into a prune face. Tragedy can do all these things but it doesn?t have to!! Nobody likes tragedy, nobody likes it when a crisis strikes, and nobody likes it when all of a sudden something bad happens. But the truth is ? and I don?t know if you?ve discovered or not ? but we cannot and will not go through life tragedy free! Tragedy for some of you may be?(start to describe different tragic incidences that occur in peoples lives) Not matter what the crisis, or tragedy is that you face in life you do have a choice in how you will respond and your response will determine the effect tragedy has on your life!! Let?s go to the Bible for our lesson shall we?
Read 1 Kings 17:17-24

1 Kings 17:17-24 (NIV)

17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” 22 The LORD heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is the truth.”

The crisis (vs. 17-24)

The widow and her family (along with Elijah) were living in plenty amidst the dreadful drought around them and were enjoying the blessings and provision of God when?
The widow?s son becomes ill and grew (gradually) worse and worse until he finally stopped breathing
- Isn?t it odd that the widow only went to Elijah when her son died?

The widow?s response to the tragedy (vs. 18) (she complains ? choosing the path of bitterness)

The widow goes to Elijah (with her son in her arms [suggesting that the boy is fairly young]) and complains.

In her complaint:

She accuses Elijah of having something against her
She acknowledges there is sin in her life.
She assumes her son?s death is to remind her of her sin.

Three things are happening here in her response that result in becoming a bitter person?

Looking for someone or something else to blame
Beginning to blame yourself.
Trying to explain why it happened.

Elijah?s response (v. 19-21) (takes the tragedy to God)

Requests the widow to give him her son.
He took her son (from her arms) up to the upper room (where Elijah was staying) and laid the boy onto his bed.
Elijah first cried out to the Lord (vs 20)

Acknowledged the Lord as His God.

Asked God whether it was Him who brought this tragedy on the widow.

“Poor Elijah must be getting a complex by now! Everywhere he goes tragedy seems to follow!”

Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy 3 times and CRIED out to the Lord “O Lord MY God, let this boys life return to him.

What are the lessons learned from here?

Sometimes you have to give up in order to get up

The widow had to give up her boy in order for God to do his work.

Elijah had to give up the boy to God and His will.

Stop trying to explain it, stop placing the blame on others and yourself but give up your crisis and your tragedy to God so that He can accomplish His work in spite of the tragedy!!

Giving up does not mean quitting! I?m not saying that when a financial crisis hits that you quit your business. I?m not saying when you?re having marital problems that you quit your relationship. I?m not saying that when you lose a loved one you quit living and loving. I?m not saying that when you experience a miscarriage that you quit trying to have a baby. I?m not saying that when you are betrayed you quit trusting!!What I am saying is that when tragic things happen don?t complain, don?t gripe, don?t wallow in self-pity and despair, don?t blame others for what has happened, don?t try to explain what happened, don?t choose all those things but instead choose to give your tragedy over to God and say, ” O Lord my God I don?t understand it, I don?t comprehend it, I don?t like it, and I certainly didn?t want this to happen but I?m making the choice to give this tragedy over to you, I?m choosing to let go of the hurt, the pain, the sorrow, and the anguish it has caused me, this tragedy is going to make me better not bitter!!”

Elijah didn?t wail and moan with the woman and become bitter about what happened to the boy. Elijah didn?t go off and start blaming himself and others for what happened. Elijah simply said, “Give the boy to me” and then gave the boy to God.

If you don?t believe in God, In Jesus, in the Holy Spirit then whom are you going to give your tragedy to?

You give up your tragedy to God through faith filled, persistent prayer that invites God to have the last say in your crisis.

Elijah invited God to have the last say in this tragic circumstance and was persistent in his invitation.

How often do you invite God to have the last say in the midst of your tragedies and crises?

What was God?s response?

The Lord?s Response (vs.22-23)

The Lord heard Elijah?s cry
NOTE: The Lord?s response hinged on Elijah?s reaction to the tragedy!!
The boy?s life returned to him AND he lived.
- Two miracles occurred here:

He was resurrected from the dead

His original sickness that had caused his death was healed!

Elijah picked up the child and returned him to his mother.

She was consoled and declared, “Now I know you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

What will be the Lord?s Response to your tragedy? I don?t know exactly what he will do in your case but I do know this?

He will respond to your cry!

His response will hinge on your reaction to your tragedy! Are you going to give it up to Him so that He can have the last word?

He will return life to you and you will grow and minister to others!!

John 10:9-10 (NIV)

9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Those who have made the choice of tragedy making them better are those who have learned to see things from an eternal perspective. They have grown through their tragedy and their life has become more fuller and richer. But that?s not all ? they now are able to be agents of God?s grace when someone else faces a crisis or tragedy and they can say like Elijah ? “Give it to me and we?ll give it to God!”

God will be glorified by His response!

John 9:1-3 (NIV)

1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

John 9:24-25 (NIV)

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

* The over-comer says?

“My marriage was failing, I was almost bankrupt, my loved one died of cancer, my wife got really sick, I lost my best friend, I failed my exam, my son ran away but I will not quit, I will not creep around in the depths of bitterness, I?m not blaming and I?m not explaining I simply give it over to God and trust Him and believe in Him and hope in Him, and persist in my prayers to Him and this tragedy will not make me bitter but make me better, it will not defeat me but instead complete me, because God will have the last say in my marriage, in my finances, in my health and the health of my loved ones, in my relationships, in my school, in my workplace, in my home, in my family ? I once was blind ? but NOW I SEE!” Give glory to the Lamb of God, and the Lord of Hosts for He is glorified in His response to our tragedies!!!

CONCLUSION

A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed like every time one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and the last he placed ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word. The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about 20 minutes he turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her he asked, “Darling, what do you see?”

“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.

He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted it and smelled its rich aroma.

She humbly asked, “What does it mean Father?”

He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter? “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?” (I received this in an email from a friend with no given source)

How about you? Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with pain and adversity do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength? Are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable heart? Were you a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a divorce, or a layoff, have you become hardened and stiff? Your shell looks the same, but are you bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and heart?

Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing that is bringing the pain. When the water gets the hottest, it just tastes better. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and make things better around you. How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

Do you give your tragedy, your crisis, your trial over to God and surrender to what his last say will be? Do you give God the opportunity to make you better through tragedy. Do you receive the life that only He can bring?

The apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthian church?

2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (NIV)

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

And near the end of the same letter?

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Today, I have no doubt that there are some of you who are sitting here who are bitter because of something tragic that has happened or is happening in your life ? maybe you are facing a crisis that seems like it will be the last straw ? the thing that is going to break you. Perhaps you?ve been blaming others, or blaming yourself. Maybe you?ve been trying to explain why this awful thing happened or looking for an explanation from someone else. Friends, if that is you this morning I want to tell you that you do have a choice. Yes the tragedy has hit, the crisis has exploded in your face but you DO HAVE A CHOICE in how you will respond. And I want to invite you this morning to choose better rather than bitter. Choose life rather than death. I invite you this morning to say, “O Lord my God, I give up this awful tragedy, this crisis to you ? I am no longer going play the blaming or explaining game, but I am going to give this crisis over to you and I want you to have the last say!” If that is you this morning will you raise your hand?

Tags: adversity, call, corinthians, deuteronomy, Elijah: The Desert Prophet, tragedy, truth, widow
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Showdown on Caramel Mountain

Sunday, September 1st, 2002

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Elijah: The Desert Prophet

Read at beginning of service:

Matthew 6:19-24 (NIV)

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

INTRODUCTION

Today we continue our series on Elijah, the Desert Prophet and I?d like to pick up his story in 1 Kings 18?

Read 1 Kings 18:1-46

Pray

This story that I?ve just read to you is the big event, the moment that everything in Elijah?s life has been leading up to, the huge shebang! I like to call this event, “Showdown on Caramel Mountain”. I remember the first time I heard this historical lesson I was in a Sunday School class and with due to my poor hearing I was sure I heard my teacher say Mt. Caramel, not Carmel!! Of course since then I?ve realized that the name is Mt. Carmel and this is not the place where caramel grows! However this is the place where one of the most significant events in Israel?s history occurs. It was here that Elijah declared that the complete sovereignty, lordship, majesty, and glory of God is to be shared with no one or nothing else! It was here that God reiterated the lesson He had been revealing throughout the Bible that He alone is God and there is no other! That is the main point of this story, that is the key idea, that is the all important principle and it was made in a very powerful way.
But prior to this significant event we have already seen this point being made in Elijah?s life:
- God provided for Elijah through the raven?s and the brook of the Kerith Ravine.
- God continued to provide for Elijah in the midst of enemy territory, in the home of a destitute widow, and in the miracle of an inexhaustible supply of flour and oil.
- Elijah consistently demonstrated God?s Lordship over his circumstances?
  - from the journey that began in Ahab?s presence?to the hiding place of the Kerith Ravine? the heart of enemy territory.
  - from the drying up of the brook of the Kerith Ravine?to the death of the son in the house he was staying.
  - from a place of obscurity to the position of infamy
  - in all these places ? Elijah yielded to the Lordship of God and His control over his life.
The greatest strength of Elijah?s life was his dependence on God and his surrender to God?s purpose. In Elijah?s life we see that God truly is God and there is no other Lord.
Now remember that the chief reason why the Israelites were experiencing this time of drought was because of their sin in abandoning God and his commands and following other Gods. When Elijah came once again to Ahab in obedience to the Lord?s command Ahab accused Elijah of bringing the troubles on Israel but Elijah quickly turned that back to Ahab saying, “?you and your father?s family have [made trouble for Israel]. You have abandoned the Lord?s commands and have followed the Baals” Baal was the “god” that Ahab and Israel had been worshipping and it is interesting to note that the word Baal means “lord”. This word is plural here because there were many different Baals or “lords” that the people would follow in Baal worship. Different towns would have a different Baal, even different homes would have a different Baal. Ahab and the Israelites had polluted their worship of God and even in some cases abandoned their worship of God to their worship of Baals or other lords.
Elijah told Ahab to assemble the people of Israel, 450 prophets of Baal, and their support staff of 400 prophets of Asherah (who were plump and well-fed at the expense of the wicked queen Jezebel) to Mt. Carmel. Ahab did as Elijah requested and the people assembled on the mountain.
When Elijah stood up in front of the people he confronted them with their sin, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” The people must have expected Elijah to stand up in front of them and bless the land and pray for rain ? but he had other work to do first. For the people must be brought to repent and reform, and then they may look for the removal of the judgment, but not till then. This is the right method. God will first prepare our heart, and then cause his ear to hear, will first turn us to him, and then turn to us,
Elijah reproved the people for mixing the worship of God and the worship of Baal together. Not only were some Israelites worshipping God and others worshipping Baal, but the same Israelites sometimes worshipped one and sometimes the other. They worshipped God to please the prophets, but worshipped Baal to please Jezebel and curry favour at court. They thought to improve their place and position and play on both sides. Elijah points out the absurdity of their practice and emphasizes that there can be only one God, only one being who is infinite and supreme ? only one who is omnipotent, all ?sufficient. Elijah states very simply at the direction of the Lord that if, upon trial it appears that Baal is that is that one God then he should receive your worship and him only but if the Lord (Jehovah) is that one God then Baal is a cheat and you must have no more to do with him!
The people were silent, they recognized that what Elijah spoke was the truth ? they could not deny it.
Friends, in our world today there are many Baals, Baal worship is just as evident today as it was in the days of Elijah. Sure the form and methods may have changed somewhat but the practice remains the same. People have substituted other “lords” for the authority and power of God. Baal worship in today?s world consists of the idols of money, of self, of materialism, of environmentalism, even of atheism (the belief that there is no God). Baal worship today is found in many cults, Jehovah?s Witnesses, Mormons, Masonic Lodge, New Age. Baal worship today is found in occultic practices, Satan worship, witches, psychics etc.
Friends when anything supplants the Lordship or supremacy of God in your life you are a participant in Baal worship. The sad thing is that I believe that Elijah could very well speak these words to many people who attend church! Those who live one way in church on a Sunday and then a different way throughout the week. Those who profess Jesus to be Lord of their life and then bow to the idols of self through the week. A quick test of where your loyalties lie is to look at your priorities in life ? what?s more important to you? What is it that gets you excited? What do you absolutely need to have in life? Elijah?s words not only cut to the heart of the matter in the life of Israel that day but they also address the attitude that many people have today, “How long will you waver between two opinions? Either God is Lord of all or he is not lord at all. There cannot be two masters in your life. And like or not you will serve one or the other, God or Baal you cannot serve both and you cannot serve neither.

Matthew 6:24 (NIV)

24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

After Elijah confronted the people with the absurdity of their sin he presented a challenge before the people?
This challenge would demonstrate two things that I would like to share with you this morning:

Baal?s power is counterfeit and is based in deception

What happened:

Elijah issues the challenge to the Baal prophets and clarifies the challenge.

noticed he contrasts the number of Baal prophets versus the number with him. (450:1)

he says choose one of the bulls and prepare it first since there are so many of you.

Notice that he emphasized that were to not set fire to the sacrifice?

This was because it was a common practice among pagan rituals to…

The prophets of Baal called on the name of their god from morning to noon

- they were sure that their god would answer them

Then at noon Elijah began to taunt them? (v27)

They responded to Elijah?s taunts and became more frenzied and frantic in their prophesying and continued to the time for the evening sacrifice? (v28

There was no response, no one answered, and no one paid attention (v29)

Friends what was demonstrated in this incident is the deception of Baal and the counterfeit nature of his power. What is the truth that is revealed in this account is the truth that is revealed in the very beginning as recorded in Genesis and again, and again, and again through to Revelation and is very much present today. Satan the master of deception and lies is out to rob people of their heritage in God and their life of meaning. Satan from day one has sought to deceive people into thinking that they don?t need God, that they don?t want God, that life is just fine without him. Oh, satan has many methods but his motive and his message are always the same.

John 10:10 (NIV)

10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

John 8:44 (NIV)

44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

2 Corinthians 11:14 (NIV)

14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

In John 8:44 Satan is described as the father of lies, in John 10:10 he is described as a thief who comes to steal and kill and destroy and in 2 Corinthians 11:14 it is said that he masquerades as an angel of light all for the intended purpose of misleading people and keeping them bound to the lie that they don?t need God!
Folks, every religion, ideaology, line of thinking, belief system, way of living, or mindset that promotes the idea that man is okay and that you don?t need the God of the Bible, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit is a deception and was birthed in the bowels of hell and the mind of satan. Oh, and he?s a crafty, sneaky little bug! Satan will use any means possible to hinder the work of God. He?ll even go so far as to convince people that you can serve two masters and be okay! He did this with the Israelites and sadly he?s doing this in many churches today.
What are the deceptions unveiled at Mt. Carmel?

That what the majority of people believe will always be right?

Elijah made a point of emphasizing the number of Baal prophets versus his lone status as God?s representative.

ILLUSTRATION: Do you ever remember from school days when you were in elementary school and a teacher would ask a question that required you raising your hands to answer? Inevitably you would see everybody looking around and seeing who was raising their hand because they would want to make sure that they “fit in” with the crowd and went with the majority.

This deception seems okay when what the majority believes is right but Satan wants us to believe that so that when what the majority believes isn?t right we still go along with it.

A common phrase ? oh everybody does it?

ILLUSTRATION: Sunday shopping?

THE TRUTH IS: A majority opinion of people doesn?t determine what?s right ? God does and He reveals what is right and wrong in His word!

THE TRUTH IS: One + God will always equal a majority even when the person with God is in a minority.

This point is important because we are entering a day and age where more and more people are willing to compromise their faith in God in order to “go along with the majority”?

That security can be obtained apart from God.

When I talk about security I?m talking about how people, from the time they are born, want to feel secure in their life, about their future, and about their purpose. These two things tend to govern our emotional (and sometimes even physical) health. When someone is insecure that insecurity usually manifests itself in aberrant behaviour.

For example ? a person loses a job that has met they?re needs for a number of years and all of a sudden they are laid off ?they have trouble finding another job and start to get depressed and angry and maybe begin to drink to help with the depression?. You get the picture?

Satan works really hard at this deception because if he can get people to feel secure in something apart from God then they won?t feel they need God!

In the days of Elijah, satan had been somewhat successful in getting the people to believe the lie that Baal would give them security, that their future was safe in his hands, that could have everything they needed through him ? the prophets of Baal were given every reason to believe this lie as they continued to be well provided for by Jezebel even through the time of the drought. But look what happened when Baal failed to answer them ? aberrant behavior manifested and?

However, in the showdown on Caramel Mountain this lie was quickly exposed as the truth was made known that if you want a secure future, if you want a secure life then look no further, no higher, no deeper, no wider, than God. Jesus is the source for security?

That it doesn?t matter what you believe as long as you?re sincere?

The prophets of Baal were certainly sincere in their worship ? but they were sincerely wrong.

There are so many people in the world today who have been deceived by this lie. The truth is that it does matter what you believe no matter how sincere you are. There is only one God, there is only one way to Him and that is through Jesus Christ?

God?s power is genuine and is based in truth.

Observations:

Elijah invited the people to come near (v 30)

the work of God is not a “secret work” or a hidden work. God desires that all would no Him and His power.

Romans 1:20 (NIV)

20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Elijah rebuilt the altar

Elijah didn?t use the altar that the Baal prophets used?truth is not and will not ever be built on lies. Truth exposes a lie it doesn?t mask it! Anything that covers over a lie is not the truth.

The people were reminded through the building of the altar the truth about who God intended them to be -? “HIS PEOPLE!!!” (v31)

Elijah had water poured on the altar.

No one could say about Elijah ? “he put a small explosive in the middle of the altar”

God?s power leaves no doubt that HE IS GOD!

Elijah prayed

God?s power does not come by frantic service and prideful behavior but through humble, surrendered obedience!!

Elijah?s prayer:

That God would show that He alone is God IN (not of) Israel (the choice is still up to the Israelites whether He would be “OF”)

That God would prove that Elijah is His servant

That the people would know God is turning their hearts back again

The fire fell from the Lord and consumed everything!

not only the sacrifice but the dirt and rocks(!) too.

The answer came right away

Demonstrated that this was no ordinary fire

This probably also demonstrated that although God accepted this special sacrifice from this altar, yet for the future they ought to demolish all the altars in their high places and, for their constant sacrifices, make use of that at Jerusalem only. Mose?s altar and Solomon?s were consecrated by the fire from heaven; but this altar was destroyed, no more to be used. God is God!!

CONCLUSION

The people?s response (v. 39-40)

fell on their faces (recognized that God is God)

they were convinced by the incredible event that occurred on Mt. Carmel.

Being convinced is one thing but it means nothing if you are not converted.

The prophets of Baal were slaughtered.

how do you treat the things/people that lead you to sin?

If God is God then wha

t do you do about sin!

Sin leads to death and sin must be dealt with?(gospel message)

?

Mark 9:42-48 (NIV)

42 “And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, 48 where “‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’ Everyone will be salted with fire.

The return of rain (v41-46)

the lesson had been given and the sacrifice offered.
The drought was over.

Tags: ahab, asherah, atheism, bully, carmel, corinthians, Elijah: The Desert Prophet, kerith, prophets, satan
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